CNBC spotlights Colonie swindlers on 'American Greed'

Updated 12:14 pm, Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The disgraced former operators of Rivertown Investments in Colonie are about to get some national publicity.

Just not the kind of publicity they ever hoped to receive.

The operators, convicted in a massive mortgage scam, will be the focus of Wednesday night's episode of CNBC's "American Greed" at 10 p.m.

Law Beat, no stranger to the case, will be interviewed on the show, which is narrated by Stacy Keach and focuses on white-collar crimes. Being featured on the program puts the locals in the same boat as such heavyweight grifters as Bernie Madoff, ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and "boy band" impresario/con man Lou Pearlman.

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Rivertown fit the bill.

"For hard-working homeowners barely getting by, one financial tragedy can trigger a downward spiral towards foreclosure," a preview of the show stated. "Rivertown Investments offered a deal to keep people in their homes. But this ultimate win-win led to people on the street and crooks making a fortune."

Rivertown will not soon be forgotten by homeowners, banks, lenders and title insurance companies defrauded by Geoffrey Goldman, the company's 34-year-old ex-owner.

Goldman, formerly of Albany, made one of the all-time memorable lines Law Beat has heard in court when, at his sentencing, he told the judge: "I am a good person, and although I've committed crimes I'm not a criminal."

He is serving 4 to 12 years at Adirondack Correctional Facility in Ray Brook, at which disbarred attorney Kevin Wheatley, Rivertown's no-longer in-house counsel and executive vice president, is doing 3½ to 10½ years for grand larceny.

Rivertown solicited homeowners in financial distress and convinced them to sell their homes. The company leased the homes back to the homeowners (usually 18 months) under promises of net equity as a down payment on the repurchase of the homes. But the homes were never sold back, customers got evicted and clients who repurchased the homes were forced to spend thousands of dollars beyond their initial agreements.

Rivertown hired straw buyers to apply for mortgages. They would sign documents to become members of Rivertown holding companies that received titles to the properties but never spent any money required under the deals.

Goldman spent his victims' money on casinos, spa treatments, a wine locker and a Caribbean cruise for his brother and co-defendant, Jonathan, whom he later skewered at his sentencing in 2011.

"The prosecution had their minds made up about the story they wanted to tell," Goldman told Judge Stephen Herrick, "that my brother was the good kid and I was the criminal mastermind."

Goldman, while claiming that he had taken "full responsibility" for his crimes, took issue with prosecutor — and even his victims.

"What I take issue with in this case are the exaggerated claims of fraud perpetuated against the homeowners. Most of the allegations are blatantly false," Goldman told the judge — a year after he admitted his guilt under oath,.

"I have been vehemently portrayed as a sophisticated criminal mastermind, a heartless liar and thief who preyed upon and victimized financially distressed individuals to sustain a lavish and luxurious lifestyle. It is my humble opinion that a sentence based solely on the mischaracterizations and draconian recommendations presented thus far by the prosecution would result in an obscene exploitation of justice."

Herrick did not buy it. "I think you are a very intelligent con artist," he told Goldman.

Wheatley accepted his guilt, saying "I'm responsible for my crime. I misled homeowners. I misled lenders. I saw the writing on the wall ... fraudulent things were being done. I joined in."

The judge noted that Wheatley expressed fears his family could lose their home: "I find that somewhat ironic," he told Wheatley.

Jonathan Goldman, 32, Rivertown's former vice president, was sentenced to 1 1/3 to 4 years for scheming to defraud; Jessica Peryea, former sales director, received 1 to 3 in prison for grand larceny, and Jordan Laccetti, a former Rivertown loan officer, got a year in jail for falsifying business records.

In one of the more bizarre moments of Geoffrey Goldman's sentence, the married defendant begged Herrick to show leniency for Peryea, with whom he had an intimate relationship, saying "Give her my time!"

Jonathan Goldman and Peryea were paroled; Laccetti served his sentence.